Cardcaptor Mei Lin: The Wild Cards
by Sledgehammer
Summary: As we all know, Li Mei Lin cannot be a Card Captor, seeing as how she has no mystical heritage. Well, what if there were some cards only she was capable of capturing? X-over elements with R1/2!
1. Episode 1

  
Episode 01  
"GUESS WHO"S BACK!" Everyone in the classroom nearly fell out of their   
seats, as the classroom door was slammed open, revealing a pair of red   
eyes, and dark odangos some thought they would never see again. "Mei   
Lin!" Sakura shouted back, waving at her friendly rival. For once, Mei   
Lin smiled back. Back in China, she had missed that perky attitude, not   
that she would admit it.  
  
Li, of course, was shrinking back in his seat, hoping Mei Lin wouldn't   
notice him. Tough luck for him, though, since he was quickly caught in   
her amazon-like glomp. "And did MY fiancée miss me?"  
  
"Uh, yeah. Welcome back." Li mumbled, thoroughly embarrassed. To his   
relief, she disengaged, and sat at her old desk. Tomoyo, Sakura, and Li   
tried several times to ask her why she had come back, but, "I'll   
explain later," was all the answer they got.  
  
Please stay tuned after these commercial breaks...  
  
It was at lunch-time that they cornered her in a secluded spot past the   
soccer field. In answer to their myriad questions, "Yes, I heard you   
captured all the Clow Cards. Congratulations, by the way. Mother's   
doing fine. She sends her love, Li. She's not quite back on her feet,   
but Gramma sent me back for a reason. It's best if Keroberos were here.   
Oh, Hi Kero!" Kero had been snoozing in Sakura's knapsack, quite   
honestly hoping to avoid Sakura's snoopy brother at home.  
  
"Yeah, I'm here. So what's up?" Mei Lin let out a small smile. Kero had   
always amused her, somewhat. He certainly wasn't what you expect from a   
guardian beast. "In a perfect example of synchronicity, someone from   
this area stole the Saotome Cards."  
  
Silence reigned for about five seconds, before Kero piped up, "Aaaah   
man, of all the... and he got all of them?" Mei Lin nodded. "What are   
the Saotome Cards? Are they like the Clow Cards?" Sakura asked. Kero   
gave the five yen info, "Sort of. Four hundred years ago, not long   
after he made his cards, Clow Reed met a young martial artist by the   
name of Saotome Ranma. They were both prideful, and liked to show off.   
When Reed started to brag about his magic cards, Ranma said he could do   
better. He would have been right, except like Mei Lin here, he didn't   
have any mystic heritage.  
  
"Amazingly enough though, that didn't stop him. He managed to make his   
own cards, ones that weren't powered by magic. Instead he created cards   
that would channel his Chi, and take on a life of their own."  
  
"Wow." Was about all Sakura could say, but that was because Mei Lin had   
pulled something out of her shirt. It was crystal clear, with purple   
and pink highlights. The picture on the front showed a beautiful purple   
haired female, the other side a pink cat. "The Amazon.... The Feline?   
Why does it have two sides?" Sakura asked.  
  
Kero went into sage mentor mode. "Ranma Saotome was a creature of   
duality. He had two forms, two personalities, his friends were his   
enemies and vice-versa. Almost everything in his life had a counter-  
balance, so he decided his cards would be no different. That, and all   
of his cards were based on people he knew, and his martial arts   
techniques. Now that I think about it, I thought you said the thief   
made off with all of the cards? Where did you get this one?"  
  
"The thief was tracked down to his home by a hunting party. A fight   
broke out, and the thief tried to use the Mountain of a Thousand Fists   
card. He accidentally tore off his own arm, and the resulting Chi   
fallout woke up the rest of the cards, and they took off. This was the   
only one that was left. Since I'm the only one with the experience and   
the training, I was chosen to capture these cards."  
  
Sakura got up, and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. Well, we'll   
back you up all the way, Mei Lin!" Mei Lin smiled back. "Thanks,   
Kinomoto." A devious smile graced her face. "But I'm going to be a   
better Cardcaptor than you could ever hope to be!" They all had a good   
laugh over Mei Lin's competitive nature.  
  
Please stay tuned after these commercial breaks...  
  
"I know it's around here. I can taste it." Mei Lin hissed. The usual   
suspects were gathered on a rooftop. "I don't sense a thing." Li   
complained. "Me neither." Sakura agreed with him. Keroberos had to   
remind them, "Remember, The Saotome Cards don't run off of magic, but   
off of life energy. Only a Chi adept could sense them when they're not   
in action. And That reminds me, since when are you a Chi adept, Mei   
Lin?"  
  
"When the Hunting Party came back with the Amazon card, and it was   
decided I would capture the cards, Gramma drilled the basics of Chi   
sensing and channeling into me. I'm a little too specialized to be an   
adept, but I have what it takes to get the job done." She pulled out   
the Amazon/Feline card. "All right, I guess I'll have to get serious   
about tracking it down." She flipped the crystalline card into the air,   
and once it was in position, she caught it in an open-palm strike. That   
hand had a blue aura about it, which graded into the purple spectrum,   
along with her hair. The card split into five parts, the image of the   
beautiful purple haired girl in the center, and the rest quadrisecting  
  
Li, Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero watched spellbound as Mei Lin stopped   
being a cute Chinese girl, and grew into a young, ravishing, purple   
haired woman. Her usual red and white dress, such as it was, barely   
held her figure now. "Aiyaa! Mei Lin feel too, too much better now!"   
She exclaimed in a breathy, sensuous voice. poor Li soon found himself   
the victim of an Amazon glomp. "After fight, Mei Lin and Airen go make   
many strong Amazons together, yes?"  
  
When Li had mentally translated what she was proposing, not to mention   
that her suddenly present ampleness was poking him in the chest, he did   
the logical thing. He had a nose-bleed and passed out. "Airen, what   
wrong? No want to wait until after fight?"  
  
Sakura, ever helpful, interrupted. "Mei Lin? I think you got him a   
little too excited." Mei Lin looked between her fiancée, and her rival,   
back again. "Ah, is so. Airen only male, after all. Should stay home   
and cook dinner for wife and keep bed warm." Sakura and Tomoyo   
exchanged nervous glances at Mei Lin's sudden ultra-sexist attitude.   
"Now where is card? You! Frilly Wand-girl! Where is card? Tell truth   
now!" More shared nervous glances between the girls, as Mei Lin was   
glaring at them rather hard.  
  
"Ah, could it be that large brass bell floating behind you?" Sakura   
asked as she pointed over Mei Lin's shoulder at, yes, a large brass   
bell, the kind cats like to play with. And yes, it was also floating in   
the air, which made it an instant suspect. Mei Lin, with her increased   
strength and reflexes, easily pounded the bell into the roof. "That,"   
Kero started, "Was the Wedding Bell-slash-Ghost Cat Card. It's   
relatively harmless." As if to mock him, the large bell flew upwards,   
clonking Mei Lin upside her head and knocking her down. The bell let   
loose a white mist, which coalesced into a six-foot tall, chubby white   
cat with large golden eyes.  
  
Said cat was presenting Sakura with a smaller version of the great bell   
hanging from his neck. "Will you marry me?" It asked. "Well, uh I, uh,   
hehehe, I-I'm flattered and all, but..." Whatever Sakura was going to   
say was cut off by Mei Lin again slamming the Ghost Cat into the roof.   
"Stupid Cat think he can sucker punch Mei Lin? You I kill!" Over the   
course of five minutes, the Ghost Cat was given a severe beat-down.  
  
Said Ghost Cat rather suddenly lost cohesion, and faded away, leaving   
five pieces of a crystalline card, which automatically reassembled   
itself into one glorious rectangle. Mei Lin reverted to her usual self.   
The Amazon card reformed in her hand, while she picked up her new   
Saotome Card. "Gotcha, ya little creep." She pocketed both cards, and   
looked around at the carnage. Both Sakura and Tomoyo's hair was   
standing on end. Li was still out with a massive nosebleed, and Kero   
was rolling on the rooftop laughing his guts out.  
  
Please stay tuned after these commercial breaks...  
  
"So when you turn the power of the card on yourself, you have more   
control over it, but it temporarily rewires your personality?" Sakura   
asked, who else? Mei Lin. "Yes. The Amazon/Feline Card comes with alot   
of physical power and skill, but it turns me into something of a   
bubblehead. Sorry about the Frilly wand-girl crack. That just came with   
the change." Sakura smiled reassuringly at Mei Lin. "That's all right.   
Besides, it's not your fault Tomoyo likes to make those costumes for   
me."  
  
"I guess you're right. It's all that Pervert Camera girl's fault!" Mei   
Lin readily agreed.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Oh... nothing!"  
  
Author's notes: I thunk this one up a long, long time back, and finally   
made a cohesive story out of it. I wrote this first episode in one   
evening, and intend to have CCS humor and good times, with bits of R1/2   
zaniness intruding. Will we be seeing any Ranma characters?   
Mmmmmaaaybe. Maybe not. I've thunk up all sorts of cards based on Ranma   
1/2 characters and techniques, and I intend on making an episode or two   
for each one. The Amazon/Feline card was based on Shampoo, one of   
Ranma's fiancees, who was cursed to turn into a cat. The Wedding   
Bell/Ghost Cat card was based on Mao Mo Lin, the Bakeneko (Japanese for   
Ghost Cat), who appeared in two issues of Ranma 1/2. He was eternally   
searching for a wife (Mainly because no girl in her right mind would   
marry a ghost cat.) Poor sucker ran face first into Ranma-chan's   
Nekoken. "She's meaner than an alley-cat!" The next time he popped up,   
he tried to take Shampoo as his bride by permanently turning her into a   
cat, unless she received a kiss from Ranma. Needless to say, she got   
her kiss, though she was a cat at the time. I'd better stop before I   
make the author's notes longer than the story.  
  



	2. Episode 2

Cardcaptor Mei Lin: The Wild Cards.  
  
Episode 2  
  
"What are we going to do tonight, Mei Lin?"  
  
"The same thing we do every night, Sakura. Try to capture more Saotome   
Cards!"  
  
Sakura, Syaoran and Mei Lin were discussing card-catching strategies   
while walking down the halls of their school. Sakura was quickly   
learning that a lot of her own tried and true methods would be   
ineffective against these new card. For example: "Trying to maneuver   
the card into a position to be sealed won't work. You have to actually   
fight the card until it loses all of its energy. And magic sense won't   
work either. Only I, and maybe Li, could possibly sense Chi or Ki."   
Another reminder from Mei Lin that these new cards were not magical.   
  
Mei Lin understood that she didn't have some of the more powerful   
cards, and until she did, she would need Sakura and Li's help. They   
were on the topic of coordinating attacks, when a loud cry rang out   
from the girls' locker room right in front of them! A boy they had   
never seen before came stumbling out, followed by several projectiles   
such as combs, bottles of hairspray, and shoes.  
  
The boy himself, was dressed in a girl's Phys Ed uniform, complete with   
uncomfortably tight bloomers, and was soaking wet. Li and Sakura both   
took out their weapons, ready to deal the pervert some damage.  
  
"Tomoyo, is that you?" Mei Lin asked. The boy numbly nodded, looking   
rather shocked. Li and Sakura dropped their offensive stances, and   
helped the former girl up. "Since I can sense your not possessed by a   
Card, it must have been the Pool of Man Card." Mei Lin mused. "Pool of   
what?" Tomoyo asked, before she, or rather, he got a good look himself.   
After the requisite gender check, Tomoyo decided to take a nap.  
  
"Hey Mei Lin, how did you know this guy was Tomoyo?" Sakura asked.   
"It's quite simple," Mei Lin said smugly, "First, I've been expecting   
something like this from the Pool of Man-slash-Pool of Girl card. It   
has a sick sense of humor. Second, who else has that sickly pale pallor   
that comes from watching videos in a darkened room for days on end?"   
Neither Sakura nor Li could dispute that, even if it was insulting.  
  
Please stay tuned after these commercial breaks...  
  
After school, the team had regrouped at Sakura's home, to pick up Kero   
and Yue, and try to think of some strategy. "The Pool of Man/Pool of   
Girl Card has always disconcerted me." Yue made perfectly clear,   
especially with his slight shudder. Kero let out a little snort. "Yeah,   
I remember when Ranma used that one on you. You nearly picked up   
several boyfriends." For once, Yue was less than unflappable, as he   
gave Kero the evil eye.  
  
"What am I going to do? I can't go home like this! What would my mother   
say?" Tomoyo, meanwhile, was whining and crying in a way that was   
uniquely unmanly. Sakura was comforting him, Li was as distant yet   
present as usual. Mei Lin was trying very hard to ignore them. Li had,   
very graciously, allowed Tomoyo the use of one of his spare uniforms.   
It was a little small on the former girl, much to Li's chagrin.  
  
"You'd better hope Touya doesn't catch you like this. You know how   
protective 'Big Brother' is." Mei Lin couldn't help but get a dig in.   
She was probably right, though. Touya was hostile enough to Li, but   
that might be because of that time when Li was trying to take the Clow   
Cards from Sakura. Best not to take too many chances, though.  
  
"All right," Mei Lin started, "Enough playing around. I have a   
brilliant plan to draw the Card out of hiding." All eyes were on her   
now. "Yeah? what is it?" Li asked suspiciously, considering the looks   
he was getting from his tacitly unwanted fiancée. "All we have to do,   
is give it an irresistible target. Something it couldn't help but cause   
mischief. So this is my plan..."  
  
Please stay tuned after these commercial breaks...  
  
Why? Why did he agree to go along with this? That was what Li Syaoran   
wanted to know. The Wedding Bell above chimed merrily. Tomoyo stood at   
the pulpit dressed in a priest's robe. Li was looking rather handsome   
in his tuxedo. (both suits courtesy of Tomoyo's expansive wardrobe.)   
Kero was doing a reasonable impression of a candle-holder. Yue had no   
intention of repeating his past experience, so he reverted to his   
blissfully oblivious 'borrowed' form.  
  
The Wedding Bell, reacting to some unseen command, started to chime the   
wedding march. Down the aisle came Sakura, who had been pressed into   
the role of the flower girl, tossing petals this way and that. She   
probably wouldn't have complained, if the costume Tomoyo had her   
bodyguards bring hadn't been extra-super-cute.   
  
And of course, after Sakura, came Mei Lin herself, in a wedding dress   
cut to her size. She looked, quite simply, stunning. Li almost forgot   
that he didn't actually want to marry her. Maybe.  
  
Yes, everything one needs for a wedding was set up in one of the   
school's assembly halls thanks to the Daidjoudi fortune. It was the   
perfect trap for a prankster Card. Absolutely irresistible, or so Mei   
Lin contended. "Dearly beloved..." Tomoyo began. The ceremony dragged   
on, the two careful not to speak over Tomoyo, as they exchanged such   
words as, "Are you sure this is going to work?" And, "Hush! We don't   
want to tip the card off." Still, no one was under any illusions that   
Mei Lin's motives were suspect. Rings were exchanged, and Li was   
getting worried. Hopefully the card would make its move before... "You   
may now kiss the bride." Damn. Still he knew he had to follow the plan.   
So he went in for the kill... uh, kiss. Slowly.  
  
But Mei Lin was having none of that. No, she did go for the kill,   
practically tackling Li and sealing the deal with her lips. Mei Lin was   
right, though. That was the moment the Card chose to strike, and   
instead of a cute girl in a wedding dress kissing a handsome young man   
in a tux, the handsome young man was wearing the dress, and the cute   
girl was now in the tux, both inexplicably drenched. Mei Lin stretched   
his senses, and almost slapped his own forehead.  
  
Seemingly rushing Tomoyo, Mei Lin instead tossed the pulpit in the air,   
exposing... Maybe it was a pretty boy, or a handsome girl, and looking   
rather surprised, but then, so was everyone else. As far as Mei Lin was   
concerned, it was a Saotome Card, and it was going down!  
  
Quick as can be, she activated the Amazon side of the Amazon/Feline   
Card, and became a now familiar violet-haired beauty (Complete with now   
too-small and wet wedding dress) Li collapsed in a useless,   
nosebleeding heap. Mei Lin tackled the Card's corporeal form, and put   
it in a choke-hold. It thrashed around for a minute, before it gave up   
the ghost, and dematerialized, returning to the inert form of a Card.  
  
The whole group cheered. Tomoyo and Li approached, grateful that they   
could now be returned to their birth forms. "Quick, Mei Lin! Turn us   
back!" Tomoyo pleaded. "What Pervert Camera Girl talking about?" She   
slung the tuxedo-clad fem-Li over her shoulder. "Mei Lin take wife on   
honeymoon! Is proud Amazon tradition!"  
  
Old Souichi the janitor, faithful employee that he was, often contended   
that the school was haunted. Tonight would not change his mind. After   
all, if the compound wasn't haunted, where did those horrible wails   
come from?  
  
Please stay tuned after these commercial breaks...  
  
"So the Pool of man/Pool of Girl Card was based on a magic cursed   
spring? I thought you said the Saotome Cards weren't magical?" Sakura   
asked out of total ignorance. "They're based on the Pools of Sorrow,   
but they don't actually use the same magic. It's amazing what you can   
do with Chi. It's not quite as refined as magic, and takes a lot more   
force of will to manipulate, too. But Ranma Saotome was a Master." Kero   
explained.  
  
"Thanks, Kero. Now I know."  
  
"And knowing is half the battle."  
  
Author's notes: Writing new chapters gets harder and harder as I go   
along. Heck, even writing the author's notes is a chore. I'm not going   
to let that stop me, though. The Pool of Man/Pool of Girl card was   
based on the Naniichuan and Nyaniichuan springs in Jusenkyo Valley, in   
the Bayankala Mountains. (The place does NOT exist, though.) Jusenkyo   
is dotted with hundreds of springs, all of which are cursed. Whoever   
falls in one of these springs takes the form of whatever last drowned   
in it. Ranma fell in the Nyaniichuan, and turned into a cute redheaded   
girl whenever he was splashed with cold water, and turned back with hot   
water. His father, Genma, fell in Shonmaoniichuan, Spring of Drowned   
Panda. Yes, Tomoyo could have turned back with hot water, but it's not   
like the Saotome Cards come with an owner's manual! Hmm, maybe I should   
make one...  
  
  



	3. Episode 3

Cardcaptor Mei Lin: The Wild Cards.  
  
Episode 3  
  
All is quiet at the museum. The curators like it that way. Five seconds later, the peace and quiet was disrupted by a pair of girls flying on the back of a winged stick. "Where is it?" One of the girls asked impatiently. "You tell me! You're the one who's supposed to be capturing it!" The other one sniped. They landed lightly on the promenade, careful not to set off any alarms, nor otherwise alert the guards to their presence. It was, after all, way past closing time.  
  
"Do you sense it?" The brown-haired girl asked. The brunette with the meatballs on her head nodded, and pointed down a hallway. They followed it until they reached a display room showing several feudal-era relics. They passed by display after display showing katanas, fans, umbrellas, and even a brass kettle... Bingo! Mei Lin made a lunge for the innocuous object, grabbing it close, while it seemed to buck and struggle in her arms. It then turned into a ladle, and somehow started whacking her repeatedly on the head.  
  
She eventually wrestled it to the ground, though, Its struggles weakened until it finally reverted to an inert card form, with brassy and brown hi-lites. "Yes! I caught the Locking Ladle/Unlocking Kettle Card!" Mei Lin crowed. Sakura cheered along with her in her usual good-natured way.  
  
Please stay tuned after these commercial breaks...  
  
"You know, a watched pot never boils." Li said in an offhand tone. Keroberos growled just a little. "First of all, this is a kettle. Second of all..." Kero turned to look at his nemesis. "QUIT BUGGING ME!" Li fell back in the chair he was sitting in. He started waving his hand in front of his face. "Gyah, stuffed animal breath!"  
  
"Li, please don't pick on Kero," Keroberos smiled as Sakura defended him. "That's my job!" Kero slumped, until the kettle on the stove started to whistle. "Finally!" He crowed. Sakura picked up the kettle, and poured the hot water on the winged lion. "Hot! Hot! HOT!" Kero yelled. "Quit being a big baby! Now you can change back!" Kero took her advice, and reverted to being a small stuffed animal with wings. Kero zipped under the sink faucet after turning the cold water on.  
  
Mei Lin came into the kitchen, having freshened up after her latest capture. She spotted Kero shivering in the sink, with the water running over him. "What's with the plushie?" She asked. "The kettle-water we used to unlock his change was a little hot." Sakura explained. Mei Lin blinked, then started giggling.  
  
"What's so funny?" Everyone asked. "You don't have to heat the water up to use the kettle!" They all groaned in unison. Except for Yue, who was grateful it wasn't him who had been trapped in his guardian form this time. Kero had been splashed with water from the locking ladle, and was stuck for quite a while in his winged-lion form, much too large to be lounging around the house. He held a secret smile as his comrade had been forced into one embarrassing ordeal after another, while he himself could easily escape into his borrowed form when need be.  
  
Please stay tuned after these commercial breaks...  
  
That night, after everyone had left, Sakura woke up to the sound of rustling coming from the kitchen. "Oh no! It might be a burglar!" She whispered. Taking no chances, she did her incantations, and activated the Power Card. She felt more than ready to take on whatever it was downstairs.  
  
And oh, was she ever surprised! Someone was actually raiding her refrigerator, wearing a panda suit no less! She yelled her battle-cry, and whacked the intruder over the head. "Take that, you-" Whatever she was going to say was lost, as the panda disappeared in a haze of blue light, revealing a crystalline card with black and white trim.  
  
"A Saotome Card?" A grin came over her face. "Mei Lin's going to be so happy!"  
  
"I am not happy." A very peeved looking Mei Lin informed everyone. Sakura had given her the card that she had captured last night as they were eating lunch at school out in the field. "Well, it was trying to steal food out of my refrigerator last night!" Sakura exclaimed indignantly. Mei Lin sighed and looked at the card in her hand. "The Card of the Old Fool and the Panda."  
  
"Not surprising, really. That card was based on Ranma Saotome's own father, who had a penchant for self-preservation. That included eating whatever he could get his hands on." Kero explained. "That's five cards now! You're doing pretty good." Mei Lin mulled it over a bit. "Well... if Sakura could share some of her captures with Li, I might as well too. Thanks for the card, Sakura!"  
  
"You're welcome!"  
  
They ate in companionable silence, blissfully unaware of events unfolding in the clock-tower. A young man, bearing a remarkable resemblance to one of the red shirts on Star Trek (meaning he was plot fodder) trudged his way up the stairs. No one noticed the slight green glow surrounding him, mainly because there was nobody around to see it.  
  
He was mumbling piteously about the woes in his live, and how he knew what to do about them.  
  
Please stay tuned after these commercial breaks...  
  
Lunch was done with, and it was time to get back to class. Basically every student in school loathed returning to class after tasting the freedom lunch hour. Li, Sakura, Tomoyo and Mei Lin were no exception. They stilled chatted about this and that, but there was a pall of repression surrounding them as they were forced from the sunshine into a boring classroom.  
  
With their heads hung low, as they were, it was a miracle Tomoyo noticed the activity in the clock-tower. "Hey, what's that?" She pointed a figure, just as it took a swan dive to the pavement below. Li acted first, pulling out his sword and a charm. "Element, WIND!" He shouted, using his magic power to form an air cushion below the falling student.  
  
Being the only witnesses, the Captors went to his aid. "Whoa, whuhappen?" He seemed a little dazed. "You took a little tumble." Mei Lin told him, exchanging knowing glances with the others. Tomoyo was sent to take the student to the infirmary, while the three Captors stayed to take care of the Card. "It's definitely in the clock-tower." Mei Lin informed her friends. "And it's a powerful one." Li and Sakura nodded. Whatever Card this was, it nearly killed a student. Sakura wished Kero had stayed to help, but he had only showed up at lunch to bum some food off of her.  
  
The trio entered the tower, being very cautious. Once the door was closed, Mei Lin activated the Amazon Card, still her most reliable weapon. She managed to remain focused on the hunt, though even her fierce expression was unbelievably cute. "Mei Lin can feel... Card is predator. Be too, too careful." Her companions nodded. They didn't need the reminder.  
  
Mei Lin led the way, quietly ascending the steps. Li and Sakura were slightly less so, but overall adequate. About halfway to the top, Mei Lin signals for them to stop. A glance tells them she has the Card's position. Li silently readies his sword, while Sakura pulls out the Fight Card. Mei Lin nods in approval, happy they're working together like a well-oiled machine.  
  
She proceeded past them, until she was on the opposite side of the tower, and that was when Mei Lin spotted her prey.  
  
It had concealed itself in the darkness, but the glowing eyes were a dead give away. It apparently knew this, too, since it sprang at Mei Lin before she could put up a defense. She was knocked halfway down the flight of stairs, before she was able to regain her footing. She kicked the Card's Chi-form over her, so that it landed on the next flight down, where she and the others could catch it in a pincer movement.  
  
It was shortly stunned as it landed, and they got a good look at it. Was it a tiger, or a man? Tiger-man? It did have ruddy fur and black stripes. It also had piercing blue eyes, and once it caught Li and Sakura's gaze, they stopped. Those eyes bored into them, rapidly dominating their wills. Luckily, Mei Lin wasn't facing it, so she was able to leap at it, but it had all the time it needed to leap to the center support beam, and slide down it to the bottom exit and freedom.  
  
It didn't get far before *CLONG* it was coldcocked in the back of the head by a large cat-toy bell. "Mei Lin knew that Card come in handy someday!" She absently leapt down to the bottom level, the fall not fazing her in the slightest. Sakura flew her and Li down, and landed between the Card and the door. It had recovered by then, and rushed them. Li dashed to the side, while Sakura met it head-on, having activated the Fight Card. She was able to resist its dominating aura, but she was losing ground to the Card's ferocity.  
  
She needn't have worried, however, as it was suddenly flung out of her way by a lightning bolt, courtesy of Li. Mei Lin took her turn, having better fortune fighting it now than Sakura did.  
  
It was taking a severe beating, and it knew it, so it tried making another break for it, this time clawing it's way up the main support beam, hoping to escape from the top. It didn't make it far, as Sakura used the fly card to catch it half-way up, and drop-kicking. It plummeted, and landed hard. Still, it tried to fight on, this time completely changing tactics, not to mention forms. The Card shifted forms to a lion-man, complete with soulful green eyes. It let out a roar, so loud that the whole world seemed to turn on its end.  
  
And it hit them where they lived. Doubts and depression overtook them. Mei Lin sunk to her knees, what was the use after all? If they couldn't capture this card, how could they take the more powerful ones? It was useless.  
  
Sakura stopped flying, her wand's wings going limp. She began plummeting. Didn't matter much, she'd just break her neck and die, that's all.  
  
And Li was watching her. Sure, he could catch her. He always did. Sooner or later, though, he wasn't going to be there to catch her. Why wait?  
  
Somehow, they all had the same thought at the same time...  
  
'WHAT AM I THINKING!?!'  
  
Sakura was too late to come out of her dive, but Li caught her nonetheless. Mei Lin, meanwhile, had rushed the Lion, and was opening up a can of whup-ass on it. Soon, all that was left in the clock-tower was two startled teens, a neo-Amazon, and a crystalline card with trim of blue and green.  
  
Please stay tuned after these commercial breaks...  
  
"So what Card is that?" The Card Captor team had assembled after school, and detention for being late back to class, back at Sakura's home. Mr. wizard, AKA Keroberos explained it for them. "It's the Fierce Tiger/Roaring Lion Card. It's based on the most basic projected Chi attacks in existence. The Roaring Lion Bullet involves turning your innermost depression into a tangible force. That's probably why that student took a nose-dive off the clock-tower. The Fierce Tiger Domineering is an expression of the highest forms of ego, bordering on arrogance. That was how it was able to stare you two down."  
  
Li and Sakura flushed at the memory of it. It grated on them, really, that they had frozen like rookies in the face of such a threat. "Hey, I couldn't have done it without you two!" Mei Lin assured the both of them, turning their embarrassing moment around. "But now that I have six cards, I am invincible! Hahahahahaha!"  
  
"I think she's using that 'Fierce Tiger' confidence on herself." Sakura whispered to Li, who nodded in agreement. Went unsaid was the conviction that she would need it. There were tougher cards out there.  
  
Author's notes: Third episode! Yeeeesssss! I tried my best to make this one long enough, so I started the episode with a capture, the second one was just filler, and the last one was the meat of the story, with some badly needed action. As for the cards, the Locking Ladle/Unlocking Kettle Card is based on the Chisuuiton and Kaisuuifu respectively, one being used to lock people in their Jusenkyo cursed forms, and the other used to restore the curse to its original function. The Old Fool/Panda Card has already been sufficiently explained. Finally, the Fierce Tiger, Roaring Lion Card was based on the first Chi attacks Ranma learned. He first copied the Chi attack Ryoga used against him, The Shi Shi Hokodan (Roaring Lion Bullet) , then used a different emotion to change it to the Moko Takabisha (Fierce Tiger Domineering). Three cards in one episode. At least one of them is useful!  
  



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